so romantic, so dramatic, so sheik

It has to be a RANA celebration day! I haven't featured my favorite Jersey rockers in a while, but today other circumstances have forced the issue. Yesterday, I found out that I will indeed be heading back out to NYC in time for RANA's three hour tour on the Rocks Off Boat Cruise on July 29. And later that same nite, my pal Rachel informed me that RANA was also going to be playing Martyrs' in Chicago on August 6, leaving me just enough time to get my ass back to the midwest so I can road trip it down to Chitown for the show/weekend. I still can't believe Rachel managed to pick up on this information before I did - I must have really had my head up my ass this week. Still, things are certainly looking up.

MP3RANA - "I'm Not Orfeo"Taken from the band's 2002 debut LP Here in the USA, this is a stripped down, lo-fi rendition of a song that features some searing slide-guitar work from guitarist Scott Metzger when it's given full band treatment. Still, this piano-driven track, on which keyboardist Matt Durant belts out a powerful, heartfelt vocal, may be RANA's finest recorded work (thus far). With this song about the mythic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, Matty finally found a good use for his fancy-pants Yale education - with his fantastic lyrics.

MP3RANA - "So Long Edgewood"This is linked from the "music" section on RANA's official website, where there are a number of other songs available for download as well. This track was recorded in the summer of 2003 during the Bill Berry-produced Athens Sessions. The demos from these sessions were (I think) intended to help the guys lure a record contract, which (as far as I know) has still yet to come about. Frankly, I'm still perplexed as to how that hasn't happened yet. The next album, which has already been recorded (if I'm not mistaken), is being produced independently. "So Long Edgewood" is also the first in the "So Long" series by the band, which also includes "So Long Shadow" (and I've been waiting over a year now to hear the next chapter, guys).

bonus MP3RANA - "Legend of Zelda"Do not request this at a RANA event. They are not going to play it, despite the fact that long-time fans still shout out it's name in the heat of drunkenness. It's a rocked out version of the theme from the classic Nintendo video game The Legend of Zelda, and it's fun and it's clever - and it's retired. But I still get a kick out of it. This was recorded live at Wetlands Preserve (R.I.P.) NYC on March 3rd, 2001 (long before video game covers were all the rage, IIRC).

I think Koji Kondo, who has been described as the "greatest legend in the video game audio industry" due to his work for Nintendo, has composed much of the music for the series, although the last game for which he was solely responsible for the composition of the soundtrack was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time